Thomas Campbell

Unsure of his future he went to Edinburgh study to law, but attracted by a literary career he achieved remarkable success with the publication in 1799 of a long poem in heroic couplets, The Pleasures of hope. In this poem, a survey of human affairs, he wrote of the sufferings caused by partition to the people of Poland. He campaigned obsessively for the Polish cause. In 1800 he visited Germany and saw the evidence of war including an Austrian cavalry charge at Ratisbon, the site of the battle fought at Hohenlinden in December 1800, and, when sailing home, the Danish batteries and the British fleet which took part in the battle of Copenhagen. These sights inspired his martial poems, Ye Mariners of England, Hohenlinden and The Battle of the Baltic. His patriotic verse won him early recognition in 1805 with the grant of a government pension. With great industry but less permanent success he wrote long narrative poems, including Gertrude of Wyoming, a sad tale of settlers and Red Indians in Pennsylvania. It is noteworthy as the first long poem with an American setting by a British author.



Campbell was a versatile, professional writer and not solely a poet. He wrote for newspapers, compiled biographies, contributed articles to encyclopaedias, and from 1820 to 1831 edited The New monthly review. His Specimens of the British poets, extended to seven volumes of selected passages from writers, with biography and criticism.



In 1825 he wrote to Lord Brougham to initiate a scheme to establish a university in London. He took great pride in the ultimate success of his proposal with the establishment of an institution that became University College. His wide-spread popularity was confirmed when Glasgow University students elected him their Rector in 1827, 1828 and 1829.



Campbell was part of a literary tradition which was both highly academic and English. A skilful metrist, he engaged in constant revision of his work, very possibly to its detriment. His early, shorter poems had more enduring appeal and eleven of them appear in Palgrave's golden treasury, many more than all except the greatest lyric poets. He wrote many quotable lines, some now commonplace expressions, as "Tis distance lends enchantment to the view", and "coming events cast their shadows before". Few now read his work. But how many read Milton's?



Campbell's wife and two sons pre-deceased him. He died in Boulogne on 15th June, 1844 and is buried in Westminster Abbey.







(bibliography: The Life Of Scottish Poets)